George Patton
|birth = |death = |cause of death = |occupation = Soldier |spouse = Beatrice Banning Ayer |military branch = United States Army ( , ) |political office = of parts of Germany }} |cause of death = by a |type of appearance = Direct}} , ) }} |military branch = Confederate States Army ( , ) |political party= |type of appearance = Direct}} George Smith Patton, Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a leading, distinguished, and controversial United States Army General during World War II. Prior to World War II, Patton was part of the unsuccessful expedition to capture Pancho Villa. He also saw World War I action in France, where he became an advocate for tank warfare. During the War, Patton saw action in North Africa, Sicily, and Europe. He earned a reputation as a dogged fighter. He died in December 1945, as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Germany. George Patton in The Man With the Iron Heart George Patton's contempt for the vanquished Germans blinded him to the threat of the German Freedom Front. His personal arrogance and infatuation for décor made him an obvious target, as he routinely sat in the back of his jeep and/or stood up in the machine-gun turret. Thus, he became an ideal target, and was killed by a "Werewolf" assassin, who blew up Patton's truck with a Panzerschreck in September 1945. His driver, Smitty, survived.The Man With the Iron Heart, 58-59. Patton was eulogized by Dwight Eisenhower, who took the occasion of Patton's funeral to exhort his men to keep in the fight.Ibid., pg. 61-62. George Patton in Worldwar George Patton was one of the United States' most successful generals in the war against the Race's Conquest Fleet. In 1942, after the U.S. had entered World War II, but before it could deploy troops, the Race's Conquest Fleet invaded Earth. For the first time in eighty years, the U.S. found itself fighting a major war on its own soil, as the Race pushed hard into Midwest, subduing much of Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois before their drive halted at Chicago.In the Balance, pg 401403. At the end of the year, Patton, along with Omar Bradley, seized on the Race's disdain for the winter cold, and successfully launched a counter-offensive, effectively ringing the Lizard forces as they advanced from Chicago. This was one of the first major successes that human forces had in stopping a Race offensive.Ibid. pgs, 484-492. Prior to the offensive, Patton met Chicago physicist Jens Larssen, as the latter was on his cross-country journey back to the University of Chicago. For security reasons, Patton held Larssen before the offensive.Ibid., pgs. 441-443. Unfortunately for Larssen, this contributed to his wife's presumption that he was dead.See, e.g., Tilting the Balance, pg. 219. At the end of the fighting, Patton toured the bombed out ruins of Chicago, which was the site of the detonation of the first American atomic bomb, the Fat Lady.Striking the Balance, pgs. 411-413. Quotes *"Chicago. That wasn't war, Lieutenant, that was butchery, and it cost them dear, even before we used our atomic weapon against them. Their greatest advantage over us was speed and mobility, and what did they do with it? Why, they threw it away, Lieutenant, and got bogged down in endless street fighting, where a man with a Tommy gun is as good as a Lizard with an automatic rifle, and a man with a Molotov cocktail can put paid to a tank that would smash a dozen Shermans in the open without breaking a sweat. The Nazis fought the same way in Russia. They were fools, too." *"Wonderful would be killing every one of them or driving them off our world here altogether. Since we can't do that, worse luck, we're going to have to learn to live with them henceforward." George Patton in Southern Victory George Patton was a Confederate StatesSee: Inconsistencies in Turtledove's Work#Inconsistencies in Southern Victory. general. He rose to prominence during the Second Great War as the country's expert on barrels. A staunch Freedom Party man and Confederate patriot, Patton avidly studied U.S. barrel expert Irving Morrell's tactics.Return Engagement, pg. 209. Patton began 1941 as a brigadier general, commanding all the barrels of the Army of Kentucky and overseeing Operation Blackbeard.Ibid., pg. 172. An aggressive an energetic leader, Patton made superb use of the Confederate Army's superior weaponry and used combined infantry, barrel, and Mule dive-bomber attacks to devastating effect. Despite his strict and largely humorless personality, Patton's men loved him due to the fact that his barrels would always show up in convenient situations and drive the enemy back, clearing them out of even the most well-defended positions.Ibid, pgs. 208-211. In just a few months, Patton's barrels reached the Great Lakes, cutting the United States in half.Ibid., pg. 258. After he had proven himself in Ohio, Patton was moved to northern Virginia in late 1941, to defend against the U.S. offensive there.Ibid., pg. 377. He was able to make the U.S. Army's advance there slow and costly. He was able to lead a successful counterattack when the U.S. was driving close to the Rappahannock River.Ibid, pgs. 476-482. The counterattack didn't achieve its original goal of driving the U.S. to the Rapidan, but it did drive the U.S. Army back.Ibid., pg. 486. Once the U.S. advance continued, he was able to stop the advance at Fredericksburg.Ibid, pgs. 121-124. Soon after Patton was moved to lead C.S. troops during Operation CoalscuttleDrive to the East, pg. 141. in the summer of 1942. In this operation he was initially successful. He was able to sweep through eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.Ibid., pgs. 317-399, generally. However at the Battle of Pittsburgh he was faced with uninterrupted urban warfare, which was terrible for barrels. His barrel crews took heavy casualties and weren't able to move as fast as they would have in the open countryside. Once the U.S. Army surrounded Pittsburgh and Operation Rosebud was successful, Patton's troops were in constant retreat through the city.Ibid., pgs. 400-500, generally. On President Jake Featherston's order, Patton was flown out of Pittsburgh before the encircles C.S. forces surrendered. For his part, Patton wanted to stay and fight to the end, but he could not refuse Featherston's order.Ibid., pg. 515. Patton's next command was a flanking attack designed to disrupt Irving Morrell's drive on Chattanooga in the summer of 1943.The Grapple, pgs. 340-342. The attack failed.Ibid. pg. 481. Patton commanded the defenses of Chattanooga, an assignment which chafed on the offensive-minded general. Still, at the suggestion of General Clarence Potter, Patton decided to defend Chattanooga house-to-house, just as U.S. forces had defended Pittsburgh to such great effect.Ibid. pg. 467. However, when U.S. paratroopers landed in his rear, he was forced to withdraw into Georgia.Ibid., pg. 468. Patton personally offered his resignation to President Featherston after Chattanooga fell, but Featherston refused.Ibid., pg. 469. With the loss at Chattanooga, certain of Patton's subordinates--notably Potter, whom Patton despised to the point of challenging to a duelIbid. pg. 535.--were concerned that he would counterattack recklessly in a desperate attempt to stave off Morrell's drive on Atlanta.Ibid., pgs. 434-436. By early 1944, Patton had finally realized that simply attacking the U.S. forces in Atlanta would be a waste of men. With Featherston's consent,In at the Death, pg. 107. and under the cover a cloudy night, Patton ordered a hasty retreat into Alabama.Ibid. pg. 130. After a few weeks of retreat, Patton decided that he would use Birmingham as Morrell had used Pittsburgh.Ibid. pg. 301.. However, the U.S. use of superbombs on the Confederate cities of Newport News and Charleston made this plan impossible. Patton agreed to parley, and, on condition that he could speak to his men, he and the Army of Kentucky surrendered to Brigadier General Ironhewer, U.S. Army.Ibid. pgs. 337-339. In Patton's emotional address, he praised and thanked his men for their courage and devotion to duty, and cautioned them against taking up arms against the U.S.Ibid., pgs. 340-341. He then saluted his men and stepped into their ranks. His soldiers crowded around him, and many shook his hand and embraced him. One of the U.S. Army soldiers watching noted that Patton's men were exceptionally well-dressed and groomed, especially for a defeated army. References Category:Generals Category:Inconsistencies Category:POWs of the Second Great War Category:Victims of Terrorism